Rosebud Girl
by Clockworksoldiergirl
Summary: Travis injures himself during capture the flag. Guess who is helping out in the infirmary that night? Katie tells him some bad news. Connor and Lacey have to help Travis before it's too late.
1. Doesn't change anything.

Travis Stoll was known for taking ridiculous risks and executing even more far fetched plans. That was why no one was surprised when he emerged from that night's game of capture the flag with a spear buried in his arm. Chiron examined the wound with a wince," I would get that looked at my boy. We don't want it to get infected. Luckily there is a healer on duty in the infirmary." So Travis trudged dutifully off toward the big while building, clutching his shoulder. He pushed through the door and stopped to look around.

The place was deserted and the lights turned as dim as they could go. Travis's steps echoed on the white tiles as he took a few shuffling footsteps forward. He heard a tiny noise and looked around. Across the room, with her back to him was a girl. Her hair was done up in pigtails of reddish brown corkscrew curls. She had a red and black flannel button down. Knotted at her midriff over a simple grey shirt. Blue jeans accented her hips and a pair of battered converses adorned her feet. Travis coughed loudly and the girl whirled in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Katie Gardiner asked suspiciously. Travis gestured to his bloodied shirt wordlessly. "Oh gods." Katie turned to grab a container of bandages, gauze and antiseptic from one of the tables. "Sit." She ordered. Travis hauled himself onto one of the nearby beds with a grunt. Katie took his arm in her hands and examined his bicep for the wound. Travis flushed. Katie ran her fingers over the blood and pushed up his shirtsleeve. Travis took a deep breath and his lungs filled with the scent of strawberries baking in the summer sun. Katie, still oblivious, continued to examine his arm. Then she flushed bright pink. "Uh." Travis frowned at her. "What? Spit it out Katie-Kat." Katie looked up at him with those emerald eyes of hers and bit her lip. " Uh, I-I'm going to need you to take off your shirt. The wound is too high up on your arm and your sleeve is getting in the way."

"Oh." Travis flushed as well. They stared at each other silently for a few seconds and then Travis said. "D-do you mind turning around?" Katie whirled around so fast that Travis didn't see the blush on her face turn from rosebud pink, to cherry red. She took three deep breaths and willed the blood to drain from her face.

When she turned around again, Travis had his shirt slung over a bare tanned shoulder. Katie gaped at his chest. With his shirt on, he appeared scrawny but Katie could clearly see the corded muscle clinging tightly to his bones. "Katie?" Travis gave her a half smirk. "I'm bleeding out here."

"Right" She said, tearing her gaze away from his torso. She fished some gauze out of the container and began cleaning his wound. She focused all her attention on his arm so as to not stare at his chest. Travis meanwhile was staring at the top of Katies head, trying to restrain himself from running his hands through her curls. Just to see what they felt like. "Why are you here?" Travis asked her, trying to distract himself. "Shouldn't you be playing capture the flag with everyone else?" Katie shrugged. " I didn't really feel like playing so Chiron said I could hang out here in case anyone was injured." Travis was running out of things to say. "Will you play next week?" Katie shrugged. "Possibly. It depends." The movement caused her shoulder to brush against his chest. Without noticing she had moved around until she was standing between his legs. Travis stifled a groan. Katie looked up, alerted by the noise and realised where she was standing and flushed and even more brilliant pink. She gazed up at him. Lips slightly parted, eyes wide. But she didn't move. Travis didn't think she was breathing. He wasn't sure about himself either. "Whats up. Katie-Kat?" He said breathlessly. She startled. "What?"

"I said, Whats up Katie-Kat."

"I know what you said. Don't call me that."

Travis raised his eyebrow. "Sure. Whatever you want Rosebud."

Katie bit her lip. " Don't call me that!" But she sounded less sure.

She wrapped the strip of white cotton fabric around his bicep. And stepped away from him decidedly. "Done. You can leave now." She lifted the box off the bed and stowed it in a cupboard.

"That's it?" Travis asked cheekily. "You're not going to kiss it better?" Katie debated slapping him. Then she thought better of it. He still hadn't put his shirt on. So instead she turned away. Even though every instinct in her body was telling her to look back. Travis hauled himself off the table and landed on the floor with a heavy thud. For a child of the god of thieves, Travis was about as stealthy as a hippopotamus. He caught her arm and swung her around until she was facing him. His grip still on her wrist. Oh gods. Why couldn't he put on some clothes?! There was a 5:00 shadow along his jaw and Katie was surprised to see it. She didn't know Travis shaved. Then again. He was 18 now. "Be on my team." He said. And his tone of voice caught Katie unawares. His usual demeanor was gone and instead his eyes were somber and serious "Come on Rosebud. There's another game on in a fortnight and you should be on my team. And the rest of the Demeter cabin of course." He added quickly. A lump formed in Katie's throat. Tears blurred in her eyes. "Travis-"

"Oh gods, are you crying-"

"Travis." She said more firmly. "I can't be on your team."

"Why not?"

"I can't be on your team." She said, "Because in a fortnight. I won't be here. I'm leaving Camp Halfblood."

Her words were met with stunned silence for a moment then Travis said in a near whisper, "Where are you going?"

Katie bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut tight. "New Rome." She said, then louder, "I'm going to New Rome. I want to go to college and experience being a normal teenager for once. I'm going to get an apartment overlooking the Little Tiber and maybe a roommate. And Annabeth says that they have the most beautiful gardens."

Travis cut off her rambling. "If you go, who's going to be the Councillor for the Demeter Cabin?" That wasn't what he really wanted to say but it was the only darn thing he could think of. Katie looked down. "I expect Miranda will step up. Or maybe Cherish."

"But-" Travis couldn't think of anything else to say. He racked his brain, cursing himself. For the gods sake, his father was the god of trickery, why couldn't he think of an argument. Something he could say that would make her stay.

Katie seemed to misread his expression. She said quietly, but with venom. "You think this is easy for me? Camp Halfblood is the only place I have ever felt safe. I'm leaving everything behind. But I need to do this, for myself. Besides. Who here is going to miss me? My siblings sure. But I don't really have a place here." She looked back up at him. Angry tears in her eyes. "Why do you care anyway? Is it just that you've lost your little joke. Is that it? You'll have no one to play pranks on when I'm gone?" She laughed bitterly. "Don't worry. I'm sure you find someone just as stupid and gullible as I am." Travis released Katie's wrist and thrust his hands into his hair. Why did he care? But he didn't have an answer, not even for himself. So he turned on his heel and strode out of the infirmary. Katie watched him go until the doors swung shut and he was swallowed by the dark.

Katie sat on the edge of a little pier on the far side of the lake. She had her head tipped back and her lips parted. She wore an orange Camp Halfblood shirt and jean shorts, passing up her usual flannel and long pants in favour of more temperature suitable clothing. Her hair was down as well, which was unusual for her. Most of the time she tied it up in sensible ponytails or pigtails. Her legs dangled over the edge of the wooden planks. Unbeknownst to her, little vine-like weeds had grown happily through the bleached wood and curled themselves around her fingers. There was a splash by her feet and she startled looking around. A dripping form pulled himself out of the water and onto the dock. Katie yelped and rolled away. Travis Stoll looked up at her. He looked just as startled as she did. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Where did you come from?" She demanded at the same time.

Travis pushed his wet locks off his forehead. That was when Katie realised he didn't have a shirt on. Again. She looked away. In the light of the sun she could see that he was lean. And his arms were strong. And-. "Over there." Travis pointed to the far bank. "I came from over there."

"How long can you hold your breath?" Katie marveled. Travis shrugged akwardy.

"Why are you here?" She tried a different question. Travis cleared his throat. "I swim this way every day." His gaze drifted lower than her face. Much lower. She realised he was staring at her legs and she tucked them beneath herself. "My eyes are up here pervert." He snapped his gaze back to her face, his cheeks and ears turning red. Then he hauled himself to his feet and reached down a hand to help her up. She took it and was yanked to her feet. "Sorry." Travis flushed even more.

Katie frowned at him. "What's up with you today?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Was it just her, or did his voice sound sharp?

"You're not acting like yourself." She said annoyed. "This isn't about me leaving is it." He turned to her and they found themselves nose to nose, him dripping to the pier, her with anger in her eyes. "Someone has a mighty high opinion of themself." Travis murmured. He glanced down at her lips, then cursed himself. What on olympus was he doing? Katie had no comeback, she just stared at him with those green eyes of hers. Travis leaned in, their mouths inches away. Then he picked her up by the waist and tossed her into the canoe lake. She hit the water with a splash and a shriek. She broke the surface, spit water out of her mouth and went into a coughing fit. Travis laughed like a maniac. Katie hoisted herself onto the pier and climbed to her feet. "You inconsiderate-" In one swift movement Travis stepped towards her circled his arms around her and kissed her.

His mouth was warm on her cold lips and she leaned into him. Katie felt like she was flying. Her heart pounded I'm her chest. Then he pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. " I really like you Rosebud." He said breathlessly. "I don't want you to go." Her whole body went cold and she pulled back. She was silent for a moment then said. " I'm sorry Travis. This doesn't change anything"

Then she walked away.

"Hey Braces." Connor called across camp. The girl by the basket ball net looked up in annoyance. Lacy had grown her hair out over the summer. It was now waist length and the ends were dyed bubblegum pink. She pushed her aviator frame glasses up her nose and glared at Conner keeping her mouth shut tight. "What do you want Stoll." Connor reached her and grinned. " I need your love skills." Lacey wrinkled her nose at him. "Why would you ask me? There are half a dozen other Aphrodite kids who would be more than happy to help you. Also, why on Earth would I help you plan a date?" Connor sighed impatiently. "Not for me. My brother. And it's not a date. But I figure with my tricks and your love smarts we can help him."

"Oh." A smile dawned on Lacey's face she looked like she understood immediately. Connor gaped at her mouth. Her multicolor braces were gone and her teeth were perfectly straight and white. Under her glasses her eyes were the most brilliant blue. She should smile more often, Conner thought. Well, she did, just not at him. She was beautiful when she smiled. How had he never noticed before? He coughed. Lacey gave him a strange look. "I'm in."She agreed. "And I know exactly what to do "


	2. Not as Unrequited as it seems

**Hi. This is the next chapter. I just want to thank Random fangirl****0257 for your review. (I used my own spin on your idea. Hope you don't mind.) Y'know, it really helps an author to write better when we get reviews because it is just acknowledgement that our story is going in the right direction. (And if it's not, I love constructive criticism.) Seriously, how is it going? What should happen next? (I have some good ideas but I want to hear yours) and how long should I make this. I think more people should ship Tratie. They're so cute! (Unfortunately, I can't take credit for that. These characters belong to Uncle Rick. (I really don't want to say that, because admitting they're his will give him the license to throw them into hell or some messed up crud like that.)) (One day Karma will come back to bite that man on the butt)**

Travis was lost. Figuratively of course because he knew Camp Halfblood like the back of his hand. It was necessary for him because he needed a lot of escape routes for some of the pranks he pulled. Especially the ones on Katie. She ran fast. The thought made him even more depressed. _Why do you care?_His brain asked him. Travis really wished he had an answer to that question. But he didn't, so he settled on giving the tetherball an extra hard wack. It swung round the pole, blurring as it flew… and nailed the kid walking by in the middle of the forehead. "Ow!" Leo complained. Will Solace stood up from where he had been sitting on a nearby bench with his so called best friend Nico di Angelo. "Leo are you okay?" Leo rubbed his head. "I'm fine." He glared at Travis. "What's up with you man?" Travis shrugged his shoulders and shoved his hands into his pockets moodily. Nico looked up from his book and smiled a wicked grin. "I think I know." Travis made a cutting gesture across his throat. "I swear di Angelo!" Nico laughed and held his hands up. "What?" Will and Leo looked between the two of them. "It's nothing." Travis said. Will shrugged and turned back to Leo. "You aren't responding properly." He said waving his hand back and forth in front of Leo's eyes. Travis muttered an apology and started to stalk off. "Where are you going?" Nico called after him, his voice practically sparkling with mischief. "For a nice walk in the strawberry fields maybe?" Will looked up from examining Leo in confusion. "But Travis is allergic to strawberries.?" Nico threw back his head and laughed. He did that a lot more these days, Travis noticed. His eyes were lighter and his face when he smiled was truly beautiful. He was, in every sense of the word an angel. At least, you would think that from the way Will looked at him when the other boy wasn't paying attention. Will was doing just that thing now, staring in awe at how the sun caught in Nico's black hair. In any other circumstance, Travis would have found it cute at this point though, he was too depressed to care. He managed a half smile and then walked away. He made his way over to the Hermes cabin. As he walked past he couldn't help but glance in the window of cabin four. It was empty of course. Most of the Demeter kids were probably out tending to the strawberry fields or taming the garden of wild roses that grew just inside the woods. Travis approached the Hermes cabin with slow steps. He was exhausted. He didn't think he had slept at all last night. There was a scuffling noise from inside the cabin and a muffled boy's voice said, "Quick, he's coming. Get under.. Yeah." There was a crash, the door opened and Conner tripped out. He slammed the door behind him and leaned on the knob. "H-hey Travis." Travis narrowed his eyes at his brother. "What are you hiding?"

"N-nothing." Conner said with an obviously faked air of nonchalance. Travis was too tired to even argue. "Just let me in, Conner" He said dejectedly. Conner turned a pale shade of green. "You can't go in there."

"Why not?" Travis asked. Annoyed.

"B-because the cabin is filled with dangerous chemicals." He looked pleased with himself. "Yeah! Yeah that's it. It was Cecil." For a son of Hermes, Conner was an awful liar. Too tired to even sigh, Travis turned around and made for the big house.

Conner:

Stepped back into the cabin and closed the door behind him. "That was a close one," He said. "You can come out now." Lacy crawled out from under Conner's bunk bed. "It smells." She scowled. "And I'm pretty sure there's something moving in the mold back there." Conner waved his hand dismissively. " No time for that! We have to figure this out now. He's getting worse." Lacy nodded vigorously. " Even I could sense that! I could practically smell the heartbreak. He reeks of it." Conner rolled his eyes. "Anyway. What should our first step be?" Lacey frowned in concentration. She pulled her legs underneath herself. "Usually, in this kind of situation the first step would be getting them to admit they like each other to a close friend or someone. But in this case, I think the first step would be getting them to admit it to themselves." Conner nodded. It sounded reasonable. "So, how are we going to do that?" Lacy scowled at him. "Honestly Stoll! You're so clueless!"

"I am not!" Conner protested. "No, but seriously. How are we going to do this?"

Lacy stared at him waiting for him to get it. When he didn't she sighed, as if he were a particularly dense schoolchild and she were the teacher waiting for him to realise that two plus two was not a trick question. "You and I are working together for a reason right?" She asked.

Realisation dawned upon Conner's face. "I like how you think bubblegum." Lacy fingered the ends of her hair and scowled. "I don't think this colour is working." Her face screwed up in concentration. Conner watched as her shock of pale pink hair began to lighten into a silver grey. Strands of pale ice blue began to chase the grey through her hair. When the transformation was complete, Lacy was sitting in the middle of the Hermes Cabin with pale blue and silver ombre hair. "Much better" She said in satisfaction. Connor gaped at her. "How did you do that?" Lacy glanced up at himself consciously. "It's a new Aphrodite power I discovered. It's pretty lame, I know." Connor took a strand of her hair and twirled it around his finger. "It's actually pretty cool." He disagreed. Lacy stared at him and when he noticed her he flushed deep red and quickly pulled away. He backed up until he had his back ramrod straight against the bedpost. "Anyway." Lacy said, her eyes twinkling behind her aviator glasses. "We are going to get them together with good old trickery and a little thing I like to call, Reverse Psychology." The two shared a grin that could only come from two very bad people doing a very good thing.

**(Meanwhile)**

**Miranda: **

Katie had her suitcase open on her bunk bed. Clothes and books and other assorted knicknacks spilling out of it. Her hair was unboud in a messy tangle around her face. Her clothes were crumpled and in disarray. Buttons done up into the wrong button holes and everything. "What's wrong?" Miranda Gardiner asked walking into the cabin. Katie glanced at her younger sibling. (A/N: I don't actually know who is the younger Gardiner sibling but this is how it's going to work.)" There's a lot of my stuff missing. It's all the stuff the Stolls have taken over the years." Miranda rolled her eyes. "Just go ask for it back." Katie snorted. " And risk seeing Travis again? No thanks." Miranda rolled her eyes. "You'll just have to deal with it then." Katie scowled fiercely. "They have my walkman. And my little Bonnie." Katie had a little bonsai tree that she kept on her bedside table and painstakingly tended to each day. So much so that she nicknamed it Bonnie. "I didn't even realise that it had gone missing. I swear I saw it just yesterday. But I must have been so tired I imagined it. Neither of the twins would have had the time to be in here yesterday." Miranda hid her grin behind a hand when Katie turned to her. "You'll just have to deal with it."

"I can't leave without it." Katie moaned.

"Then get it back." Miranda told her. Katie let out a frustrated groan and stormed into the bathroom to clean up. Miranda made her way out of the cabin and walked a few rows down until she got to the Hermes Cabin. She pushed open the door to find Conner Stoll and Lacy sitting on the floor across from each other. Grinning and laughing. Miranda hid a smile behind a hand again. "Here." Miranda walked over to Conner and placed a tiny ceramic pot down beside him. Conner to his credit simply said . "Thanks." He grinned. "Did she suspect it was you?"

"Nah." She smiled. "She suspected it was Travis or you. Just like you thought she would."

"No offence-" Conner said. "But this is special to her?!"

"Oh yes." Lacey said. "She treats that plant like her child."  
"Well then," Conner stood up, taking the plant with him. He opened the lid to the trunk at the bottom of Travis' bed. He gingerly placed the plant in and closed it again. "Time to _plant_ the evidence." The pun elicited such an impish grin from him that Lacy and Miranda couldn't help but laugh. Miranda turned to leave, but when she reached the door she turned to see Conner staring at Lacy as she cracked up. She was truly beautiful when she smiled. Miranda turned to go and hid a smile for the third time that day. Lacy was oblivious of course. In her mind, she was still Conner's dorky childhood friend who he had nicknamed 'Braces'. Then she had gone on to become the girl he teased. She was happy for her best friend all the same. After all, Lacy had, had a crush on Conner Stoll for years now. And it seemed that feelings were not as unrequited as they had first seemed.


End file.
